Tri Fold Card for Chris

It was Chris's birthday a couple of weeks ago and I had a go at doing a tri fold card for her. The colours on the picture aren't showing quite true but they are Real Red, Cameo Coral and Green Galore for the leaves. The stamp set I used is Petal Pizzazz, one that I just had to have when the new catalogue came out. The card base is Cameo Coral and the paper I used is from the Pink Flamingo Designer Series Paper pack.

Sometimes it's difficult to get an idea of the designer series papers from the catalogue so our wonderful leader Gail Force 1 has made us all a sample book of each of the paper packs in the current catalogue, it's a much easier way to have a look at the papers before you choose. Feel free to contact me for a look if you are in the Berwick area.

Oh and by the way, we will be doing the Tri Fold Card at our stamp club get together on Wednesday 5th August. There are still a couple of places left if you are interested in joining. Send me an email to anemarie@bigpond.net.au

Mitchell's Ben 10 Birthday

Mitchell turned 6 on Saturday and had a Ben 10 themed party so naturally that meant a Ben 10 card. Obviously there are no Ben 10 stamps so I came up with an unusual solution. I used some Ben 10 tattoos that Mitchell had won at Kiara's party and following the usual instructions, tattooed them on to gloss card. Then I made a never ending card using Always Artichoke card and Urban Oasis DSP. He thought it was pretty cool.

Never Ending Card - July Stamp Club

Last Monday some of the ladies from our group got together and Felicity taught us all how to do the Never Ending Card. This card is very cool. It's a square card and you open it up on the front then keep opening another three times until you end up back at the front again. We did it for the July Stamp Club project. For this one I used the Big Bold Birthday stamp set. The paper is some old Designer Series Paper in So Saffron. On page 135 you can see the So Saffron paper in new designs. There are also 7 other fantastic colours.

Dawn's Birthday Card

I made this card for my dear friend Dawn. You might remember she is the lady that likes bling so I thought I'd add a bit. Dawn sells bags and is also a lover of shoes so when I came across these charms some time ago I grabbed them specifically for her card. The card stock colours are Elegant Eggplant, Lavender Lace and Brushed Silver (page 130 of 09/10 Stampin' Up! Catalogue) I did the edges with the new eyelet border punch. This punch is fancier than I would normally go for but it was just so pretty I had to buy it. It looks gorgeous in Whisper White or Very Vanilla and if you put it through a crimper it looks like lace. To get the Letters onto the brushed silver card I stamped the letters in Versamark, then Elegant Eggplant ink and sprinkled them with clear embossing powder. Then I used my heat gun to emboss them. The Boho Blossoms Punch was used for the little flower under the bling hearts.

Warped sense of humour

Have you ever been sent an email with funny pictures and thought it was worth saving? I was once sent the picture below and decided I would recreate it and give it to a friend for his birthday. Well I thought it was funny!! I used All in the Family stamp set with the stamp-a-ma-jig to line up all the body parts and sponged around them.

Challenges

Once again I had a go at doing some challenges. The first one is a scrap page from the layout pictured left. I used the Urban Oasis Designer Series Paper and the Fifth Avenue Floral Stamp set. I added a Metal Rim Tag and some of the great new Designer Brads in the current catalogue. The colours are Kiwi Kiss and Baja Breeze.

The second challenge was a card challenge using the colours Rose Red, Perfect Plum and Old Olive. Now I like to use all of these colours but I would never have thought to put them together and I must say I really struggled with this challenge, but that is what they are all about, bringing us out of our usual style and stretching us. I'm pretty happy with the final result but it did not come easily to me. The cute little scallop buckle on the ribbon is from the Silver Hodgepodge Kit.

Faux Tile or Grid Technique for June Stamp Club

For this months stamp club we did the Faux Tile or Grid Technique. This is a really easy and effective technique and is simply created using a bone scorer or any other scoring tool and a ruler or cutter with a groove to help score straight. Once you have scored your card you can use either side and stamp, sponge or emboss it. The first card uses the Inspired by Nature stamp set and the colours are Old Olive, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla. The second card uses the Upsy Daisy stamp set. With this one I scored the card then stamped the Daisy's in Night of Navy then brayered over it with Ballet Blue. Then I covered the whole piece of card with versamark and clear embossing powder and heat embossed it. The greeting is from the Level 1 Hostess set Best Yet.

Finding your own style

When you have been making cards or scrapbooking for a while you may notice that your work has taken on a particular look or style. We each have our own style, mine as you will notice from my posts is quite simple. Dawn, one of the ladies in our social stamp and scrap group loves Bling and often adds lots of it to her cards. This card has been done by Helen in the style that we have come to know as a 'Dawn card'. I think it's a lovely card so thought you might all like to see it. Dawn uses double sided tape around the edge of the card and then sprinkles the glitter onto the tape, pressing down lightly to make sure it is attached. The stamp is from the Pretty Princess set form the 2008/09 catalogue.

Remember when it comes to papercrafting, there are no rules and even if you find yourself settling into a particular style, mix it up occasionally. If I see a card or scrap page that I really like I try to work out what it is about it that attracts me and then have a go at recreating something similar. Thanks to Helen Sucher for submitting this card to put on the blog.

Extra FREE products for Hostesses

That's right, Hostesses who hold a $600 or more workshop during the months of June or July will receive an additional $40.00 in hostess free dollars to be spent on any product from the current Stampin' Up! Ideas Book and Catalogue. This means not only does the hostess get to choose a level 1 or level 2 exclusive hostess stamp set for free and earn $70 worth of free product that they would normally earn for a $600 workshop, they get an additional $40 giving them $110 to spend. Gotta love that!

If you would like to host a workshop during June or July, please email me at anemarie@bigpond.net.au and we'll arrange a time. Remember it's school holidays in June, some of your friends might be looking for a night away from the kids and if you host the workshop at my place in Berwick you don't even need to worry about how tidy your house is.

Some Birthday Cards

Here are a few birthday cards that I've made over the last couple of weeks.

Andrea's Hedgehog Card:

While most of the products I use are current Stampin' Up! products I do use other products when I'm creating for myself, and the cute hedgehog stamp is one I borrowed from my friend Dawn and is not a Stampin' Up! stamp. The other items used on this card are from Stampin' Up! The colours are Cameo Coral and Very Vanilla. The 'so Glad we're friends' sentiment stamp is from the level 1 hostess set 'Best Yet', the ribbon is very vanilla 1.6cm Grosgrain, the cute little silver buckle is from the Silver Hodgepodge set and I used the Scallop Edge punch for the right hand side.

Cheers to you:

This card was made for my dear friend Mark. I have used some retired Designer Series Paper and matched the colours. I think these are great colours for a mens card. The beer and 'cheers to you' stamp are from the 'Cheers to you' set and the ribbon is Choc chip 1/4" Grosgrain. I used a sponge dauber and choc chip ink to sponge around the very vanilla card.

Six year old boy card:

I used quite a few different techniques on this card. The water was done using the baby swipe technique while the sand was sponged using three different colours. The lovely whale is from the 'Pun Fun' stamp set. When I put this stamp set together I cut the sentiments off the main picture and mounted them on the side of the stamp, that way you can use the picture and the sentiment separately or together. I stamped the whale on watercolour paper with Stazon, coloured him in then cut him out. The star fish is from the retired 'Fishy friends' set. I just couldn't part with this set when it retired and still use it often for childrens cards.

Watercolour Mothers Day Card

After we had a play with the water colouring, we went on to do a card for Mothers Day. The card at the top is the one that I created using the Fifth Avenue Floral stamp set and the background paper is from the Haiku pack of designer series paper. Everyone made their own card using colours and papers that they preferred and we ended up with some very different cards as you can see in the picture below.

Watercolouring - May Stamp Club

Water colour crayons, pencils, pens, ink pads and ink refills, there are so many different tools available for water colouring, it's often difficult to know which one suits you the best. So this month for stamp club we had a play with the different options. We started by stamping either the whale or the hippo from the Pun fun set onto watercolour paper and then practiced building up the colour to give our design a round look. I usually use three colours, starting with the lightest colour, then add a darker colour or more of the same colour to give a darker look. By building up the colour a bit at a time it is easier to get a more 3D look to the image rather than a flat look. I also showed how to use reinkers to do a colour wash background. I put a few drops of reinker into a paint palette and added water then using a brush gradually swiped each colour across until I had the effect I liked. I punched a small circle out of a post it note for the moon and stuck it on before I did the colour wash. Then I took it off and sponged a bit of colour on it to give it some texture. The grass is stamped with Inspired by Nature, one of my favourite sets from the new Stampin' Up! catalogue. I used 2 different green inks to give the grass a bit of difference. Eventually I will incorporate these practice samples into a card.

Andrea's visit

Hi all

It's been a while since I've posted but I have a good excuse. My girlfriend Andrea came to visit me from England and we spent 3 weeks being tourists. We had a wonderful time and as a local I was surprised how much we have to offer in Victoria. It had been a very long time since I had visited some of our wonderful attractions and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. In the time she was here we managed to visit St Kilda Esplanade market and Luna Park, Healseville Sanctuary, William Ricketts sanctuary, Melbourne city of course, Penguin Parade at Philip Island, Mornington Peninsula where Andrea went horse riding on the beach and we even went to Sydney for the day! The photo is of Andrea hand feeding the birds at Grants picnic ground in the Dandenongs.

Kiara's Rainbow Fish birthday card

This is my attempt at a rainbow fish card for Kiara's 5th birthday. I embossed the outline of the fish in silver on watercolour paper. I used water colour crayons and inks to colour the fish and did a wash with reinkers on the background.

Stampin' Up! Annual Convention 2009

Hi all,

I have just returned from the Stampin' Up! annual Convention in Canberra and had an absolute ball. All of the 9 members of our team were able to attend so we had just as much fun socialising as attending the Convention Events. We spent 2 days learning how to be better demonstrators, leaders to our downlines and just having heaps of fun. I have come away with motivation and inspiration. Above is a photo of me with Shelli Gardner the cofounder and CEO of Stampin' Up!

Keep checking my blog for photos and more information on what we saw and did at Convention.